No. 5 Glenelg field hockey hands No. 6 Arundel first loss, 2-1
South River tops Severna Park in girls soccer, 3-1; Atholton volleyball cruises
Glenelg girls soccer coach Nicole Trunzo was out of breath.
“I’m going to pass out,” she told her players right before gifting them with a shorter Tuesday practice and an I.O.U. for a pizza party.
The Gladiators had come out victorious, 2-1, in a battle that stretched over two halves and two overtimes. After neck-and-neck offense for the latter three-quarters of the game, all it took was finding an opening in what had been a near impenetrable Arundel defense.
The Wildcats (3-1) walked off their own field with their first loss of the season.
“Something’s gotta change and something’s gotta change quick,” Arundel coach Carrie Vosburg told her players postgame.
The Gladiators dominated the ball for the first three minutes while Arundel hung back.
About five minutes in, Glenelg earned its first penalty corner. Seconds later, the ball ripped from Kathryn Hoffman’s stick and the Gladiators had a lead to hang over their hosts. It was likely the best birthday gift a junior midfielder could give herself.
“I knew it was a straight shot,” Hoffman said. “I really had to take my opportunity as soon as I could, as fast as I could. Just aim for the posts and try to score.”
Uncertainty lingered in every pass and touch the Wildcats made in the first half. Freshman Lana Hamilton and senior Delaney Norr kept winding up but fizzling when the moment to take the shot came. It was a problem that would haunt Arundel all game, even though they would outnumber their opponents 14 shots on goal to 11.
“At this point, it’s mental toughness,” Vosburg said. “I think they get tired mentally and physically and that’s when we tend to make our mistakes and we can’t finish.”
More misfortune befell the Wildcats as star forward Katie Keane rolled her ankle and exited the field. Though she would return to play the second half, she had slowed.
Junior Kathleen Bevan picked out the ball in a tangle of Arundel and Glenelg players, all knotting sticks to get possession. With just seconds to make it count, Bevan snuck around Barker and scored the Wildcats’ first goal.
It would be Arundel’s only real chance to celebrate. The half ended tied up, 1-1.
In overtime, both teams had a dozen chances to end the game. Arundel’s closest came when Norr took the ball in midfield and sped towards goal, shedding defenders and even the goalie off her.
In the second overtime, the Wildcats’ junior goalkeeper Tia Lysse started things off with a save. Senior forward Tess Muneses had tried to poke a game-ending goal in from the right. Again, moments later, Lysse would block another attempt.
Norr was issued a card. With her offense off the field, Arundel’s chances of victory diminished. Glenelg’s was seconds away.
Muneses rushed the goal and scored. Gladiators streamed onto the field like they had won the Class 2A title over again.
“They finished. It’s good,” Trunzo said. “I’m exhausted.”
Girls soccer
NO. 9 SOUTH RIVER 3, NO. 10 SEVERNA PARK 1: The Seahawks improved to 4-0-2 with a 3-1 victory over the Falcons.
After last week’s 4-2 victory over Broadneck, the Seahawks have beaten both teams that played in last year’s 4A East Region final. Broadneck went on to win the state championship.
“I think every year, hopefully, they know South River is going to compete,” said South River coach John Sis, who is in his 14th season with the program. “I don’t think we can just be happy with this and say we beat both [Severna Park and Broadneck] and be done. We have to constantly get better throughout the season because we have a lot of games left against a lot of good teams.”
After a mostly even battle for field position, junior midfielder Sophia Michalski-Cooper netted the first goal off an assist from Amanda Drohat with 10 minutes remaining in the first half to give the Seahawks the lead.
Junior midfielder Toni Fiocco-Mizer answered for the Falcons a few minutes later with a laser shot past sophomore goalie Julia Cobb to take a 1-1 tie into halftime.
Less than five minutes into the second half, South River took the lead after a push in the back was called against Severna Park, leading to a successful penalty kick from Elizabeth Gleeson.
The sophomore forward/midfielder found the back of the net again with 2:01 left to play to put the game on ice.
Less than a week into the 2018 campaign, Broadneck ruined those aspirations. The Bruins took advantage of Atholton being without reigning Player of the Year Lisa Zoch, who suffered an ankle injury on the second day of full practice, and picked up a two-sets-to-zero victory in the Westminster tournament quarterfinals. The Raiders’ players did not take the defeat lightly.
“After we lost, we were really disappointed in ourselves because we knew we weren’t playing our best,” Zoch said. “We’re capable of a lot more than we showed that weekend at that tournament.”
That potential shined through against Broadneck on Monday night, as Atholton showed why it’s No. 1 in The Baltimore Sun’s latest high school volleyball poll. With Zoch playing in her second match of the year after returning against Severna Park on Friday, the Raiders avenged their tournament loss to the eighth-ranked Bruins by way of a 25-13, 25-14, 25-22 triumph.
“Having Lisa back in there, it solidifies the defense and the offense, and everyone just rises up to the occasion when she’s out there,” Schofield said. “So, that was a big thing. We had to show them that, ‘Hey, we’re not the same team that you saw back on the eighth of September. This is our regular lineup.’”
Zoch led Atholton (3-0 overall) with nine kills and five aces and added1.5 blocks. Ryan Rorls and Jessica Humphries helped out by combining for nine kills, while Wande Sogbesan added 3.5 blocks.
Meanwhile, Broadneck (1-2) struggled from the service line throughout its straight-set loss. Coach Tracey Regalbuto estimates her players totaled 10 service errors, which prevented them from stringing together points and building momentum.